Harry Dhami leant back in an armchair at his Gravesend home and contemplated what "might have been" after losing his British welterweight crown to Belfast's Neil Sinclair in Glasgow last week.

Dhami was stopped for the first time in his

career when Sinclair floored him with a tremendous right hook in the fifth of their scheduled 12-round bout at the St Andrew's Sporting Club.

But Dhami, the first ever British champion of Asian descendants, feels the fight was "going to plan" until that dramatic moment.

Dhami said: "Naturally, I'm disappointed - you're bound to be when you lose.

"But until I was knocked down, I felt I was doing pretty well and the fight was going how we planned.

"We knew that Sinclair would come out with all guns blazing, as that's his style.

"He has never been beyond eight rounds and the game-plan was to try and take his best shots in the early rounds, while out-boxing him using my jab and, hopefully, pick up enough points to be ahead going into the second half of the bout, while putting put him under pressure to make up the deficit.

"Sinclair did come out like a mad dog, but I was hand-ling him well and nearing the end of the first round I floored him with a powerful right cross.

"He got back to his feet at five and I felt he was wobbling, but before I could go in and try to finish it, the bell went.

"It gave him a chance to

recover and he came out for the second round not like a mad dog, but a wounded dog, and he put me down with a good punch after only thirty seconds.

"But I was back on my feet almost immediately and I then started to pick him off with scoring punches,

although I took a few decent hits myself."

"However, boxing is a sport when just one punch can change its course, and this was one such occasion."

Despite his obvious disappointment, Dhami was gracious in defeat, adding: "To be honest, I never saw the punch that floored me it was tremendous and would have put anyone down.

"Sinclair's punch was world-class - the hardest I've ever taken and the referee stopped counting when he

realised that I was not going to beat it."

But I thought you said the fight had been going to plan, Harry?

He replied: "It was until then. Sinclair's left eye was swollen badly and closing up fast.

"He knew he would not have lasted the distance with an eye wound like that, so he was looking for that one big punch and he found it.

"I had a lapse of concentration and paid for it.

"But although I'm disappointed, I can take heart from the fight because I was doing well up until that moment, and afterwards Sinclair told me that I would have won had he not knocked me out.

"The referee also had me a round ahead on his scorecard, which confirmed my opinion that I was doing well."

So did your year out of the ring make a difference, Harry?

"I am not making any excuses. Before the fight I felt good and training had gone well, but there's nothing you can do when you take a shot like that."

So how do you see the

future, Harry?

"Sinclair does not want a rematch, probably because he knows that I would have won but for that one punch.

"The British Boxing Board of Control already have a couple of fighters who they will nominate for Sinclair to make his mandatory defences against, so it would take more than a year for me to get another chance under that system if he does not want to fight me voluntarily.

"But I've always been and will remain positive. I will discuss the future with my manager Terry Toole over the next few weeks, but I will looking for a big fight, maybe a European or World title fight.

"I could have vacated my British title as undefeated champion and gone for one of those instead of fighting

Sinclair. He did that, although he lost to Daniel Santos when fighting for the WBO title, so why can't I?"

Dhami summed it up in four words, well three and a half actually, by saying: "I'll be back!"

December 4, 2001 13:28

Kevin Impey